Sarasin & Partners LLP Acquires New Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 10,660 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,692,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,067,270,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Equinix by 82,340.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 890,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $725,957,000 after acquiring an additional 889,282 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Equinix by 65.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,483,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,399,042,000 after acquiring an additional 586,034 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Equinix by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,804,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,701,188,000 after purchasing an additional 401,991 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at $328,899,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinix Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Equinix stock opened at $907.48 on Tuesday. Equinix, Inc. has a 52-week low of $701.41 and a 52-week high of $994.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $841.17 and a 200 day moving average of $890.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $88.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.01 by $0.66. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 9.32%. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.86 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is presently 195.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $884.91, for a total transaction of $2,609,599.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,508,409.65. This represents a 23.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $869.41, for a total value of $86,941.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,569 shares in the company, valued at $15,274,664.29. This trade represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,176 shares of company stock worth $2,808,008 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cfra Research raised Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,200.00 price target on shares of Equinix in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equinix from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday. New Street Research raised shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,040.00 to $1,030.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Equinix currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,004.80.

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.